A chef-turned-entrepreneur who is angered by 海角视频 supermarkets buying “overfished species in foreign waters” is hoping to change the way Brits shop for fish with his sustainable food company.
Jonny Burnett of Claverham, North Somerset, has worked at some of the 海角视频’s top Michelin-starred restaurants, including Wilks in Clifton, and was the youngest chef in the country to open his own restaurant - The Postbox Eatery - in 2015.
The 24-year-old, who teamed up with a pub landlord and prepared and delivered thousands of free meals to vulnerable people during the first lockdown last year, now has ambitious plans for his latest venture - Conscious Food Co.
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The business was launched in January and delivers fresh fish from Looe, in Cornwall, across Bristol, Somerset and Gloucestershire.
According to the restaurateur, he started the business with just £150 and vans he borrowed from the founders of Bristol sandwich company Real Wrap Co after creating vegan recipes for them.
Conscious Food Co works with three small Cornish fishing boats, which can’t go out for more than six hours, and everything that is caught is sold or used as bait.
“It’s gone really well so far,” he said. “We work with fishermen who have been screwed during Covid because restaurants have been closed, but also because of Brexit."
With each delivery of fish, a QR code is provided that links to a Youtube video with a recipe, explaining how to cook the catch.
'Every industry has a nasty underbelly'
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According to Mr Burnett, the recent Netflix documentary Seaspiracy has “exposed certain truths” about the world’s fishing industry.
“Sadly there are some truly horrific methods being practiced in certain pockets of the world, which quite frankly are acts of brutality.”
But he said the show also failed to show the “positives” within the sector - and the companies which are championing sustainable practices.
“Every single industry in the world has a nasty underbelly, and if we were only to expose the bad sides of everything then morally we never want to buy anything.
“I think it is great that people are wanting to know more about the food, and where it comes from, I am an avid supporter of that movement.”
Mr Burnett is now encouraging shoppers to “think more” when they buy fish in supermarkets.
“You see fish from Norway, Iceland and Greece in supermarkets, and often it’s not very conscious.
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“Recently I saw some sea bass for sale in one supermarket in packaging with the Union Jack all over it, and I was delighted, thinking it was 海角视频 sea bass.
“But the flag had some small writing underneath saying 'packaged in the 海角视频, farmed in Turkey' and I thought that was truly awful.”
Mr Burnett believes there needs to be more incentives, or financial reliefs, for smaller fishing companies like his and wants to also encourage people to buy more locally.
“Many supermarkets are buying overfished species in foreign waters, so not only are they battering depleted stocks, they are also navigating throughout Europe to do so, ignoring the abundance of beautiful Cornish fish we have here,” he explained.
“Commercial beaming is bad fishing. Those boats have two long poles and they drop the nets with weights on and rotavate the ocean bed. It’s horrible.
“Our company has line-caught or little nets which don’t go very deep, not on the bed. There will always be bycatch but that is often used for bait. Ignorance is bliss isn’t it until there is a documentary.”
Conscious Food Co recently started working with farm shops, butchers, wine merchants and bakers across the South West so people can pre-order - and then collect - their fish while shopping. The retailers take a small percentage of the sale.
“It has been great way of interlinking companies locally,” he said. “The shops don’t hold the produce overnight. We will just take all the boxes to them, rather than delivering to 50 houses - and can tap into their customer base."
Mr Burnett’s plan for the company, he told BusinessLive , is to become a West Country online market. The business has already started selling Somerset-reared meat, and there are plans in the pipeline for cheese too.
He is hoping to launch a cookery book with QR codes on each page, that lead to online recipes, and says he will also be looking for investment going forward - but says he is not prepared to compromise his morals.
“Eventually we will build a self-sufficient West Country online supermarket, which is price competitive with the likes of Ocado, but will only work with West Country producers.
“We want to make local and ethical food become a realistic and affordable option for the masses and to drastically reduce the air miles within the food industry.”
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